Cruel Illusion's page

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Could someone describe the terrakineticist's abilities and the symbiosis psychic please?
Also, what is the new Leshy like?

Playing in Golarion, I expect a character that belongs there organically and fits in. Too many of the weird freakshow races don't have much logical reason to exist, to adventure in conventional surroundings with other races or to be accepted in the existing society. Your stock gang of murderhobos is going to be distrusted enough even if human, but if they're a bunch of frogs, lizards, aliens and birdmen, they'll have a much harder time.

If the GM is always having to twist the world to accept this mondo-bizarro gang of weirdos, it soon loses its verisimilitude. Either that or the world changes from humanocentric with a smattering of the other normal races (as described in the ISG) to a menagerie of random species where most of them are just humans in rubber suits.

There's a halfway house with just a couple of wingnut races, such that gripplis or kasathas are common enough to be accepted, but that's a lot or worldbuilding to do properly.

One or two PCs from an unusual race are OK in an otherwise conventional party, but the racism and suspicion is going to get old fast. Either that or everyone goes around in a Hat of Disguise.

/rant

We're talking fantasy world, though. Those races have presumably always been there, so unless they're a race with a bad rep, there's no reason they're treated any worse than anybody else. Everybody knows there are different looking people running around, and while some people may be xenophobic, they're not gonna panick a the sight of a guy with four arms or by a humanoid rat if they don't do anything scary.

As for their reason to exist, what does that even mean? Are you talking in universe, or about why the writers created them? In both cases, this is fantasy, it justifies pretty well the presence of fantasy creatures.

I don't really think races have much influence over the mary sue trope, with the possible exception of things like Aasimar. The Snowflake thing I can see. Although I see a lot of half elf snow flakes.

I see just as many people playin humans wanting to be special. There's plenty of humns with the blood of dragons, gods, feys, lost princes, secret heirs, wandering nobles, chosen ones and bearers of magical marks.

From what is being said, it looks more like some people want to look at their characters and their adventures and imagine it could be them in the characters' places, wich seem harder when the character is too different from the player. I cold be wrong of course, but that's how it seems to me.

Gulthor wrote:

Male Lashunta are the only +Str/+Int race in the game.

That was semi ret-conned away with Starfinder's move to saying either sex CHOOSES their sub-racial evolution during puberty or something, overt representation of biological sexual-dimorphism not desired apparently. Original Lashunta dimorphism re-cast as cultural norm which later faded away.

Where was this said?

I mostly play non-human spellcasters, beause I enjoy imagining and exploring the way those characters differ from myself, the way they relate to the world and interact with it, while bound by different rules, needs and expectations. Fantasy worlds are full of options that "normal" characters will never explore. Kind of a waste in my mind.

The Skinshaper Druid , the Mutation Mind Psychic, the Magical Child Vigilante, the Spirit Dancer Medium, the Blightburner Kineticist, the Dark Elementalist, the Kinetic Chirugeon, the Psychokineticist, among others.

Yep, no spontaneous druids. Which is a damn shame. What are you waiting for, Paizo? :p

I don't dislike most new classes, it's the archetypes that constantly disappoint me.

1)Half-Elf, because they're easy to use with most classes and aren't human.
2)Skinwalker, because of their diversity and versatile shifting power.
3)Human: What's the point of playing the most mundane creature possible when there are other options?

Cruel Illusion wrote:

Do some of the racial traits make charaters more dragon-like physically? like scales, claws, tails, whatever?

Not per se, but there is an interesting fluff-not crunch Draconic Heritage Visual Guide at the very beginning of the book that can easily be used to describe how your abilities translate in dragon-like physical features :-)

Better than nothing!

Cruel Illusion wrote:

Do some of the racial traits make charaters more dragon-like physically? like scales, claws, tails, whatever?

Nope, sorry.

Aw, too bad.

Thanks Rysky!
Also, what about the With Archetype?

Cruel Illusion wrote:

I can't believe this thread is that long.

How did it go beyond:
OP: "Is hiring a slave considered an evil act ?"
Answer: "Heck yes, it is! There is no way owning someone like they're a vulgar object can be anything but evil!"

What if they own someone like they're a very nice object?

clearly there are many shades of gray

There is no good form of dehumanization. Some things are merely evil.

I can't believe this thread is that long.

How did it go beyond:
OP: "Is hiring a slave considered an evil act ?"
Answer: "Heck yes, it is! There is no way owning someone like they're a vulgar object can be anything but evil!"

Cruel Illusion wrote:

Magical Child only have few superficial trappings of Magical Girls. If they lost the transformation sequence, they'd never be associated to that kind of character.

The Archetype is built around its familiar, perhaps because whoever wrote it heard that Magical Girls have cute little pets following them around, and uses a spell list made to enhance that particular feature.

It's an unfortunate choice, that has nothing to do with any Magical Girl I've ever heard about. Magical Girls don't fight with pets. They blast the heck out of things and in some cases, punch bad guys in the face. Even Card Captor Sakura, the closest to the Magical Child Archetype, is closer to a Wizard with one or two Eidolon(s) than to Magical Child.

Archetypes still need to be fitted to existing classes. Pathfinder's wargaming methodology isn't really fitted well to the freeform themes of Anime. That's more BESM territory.

I don't know, give the Warlock the Magical Child's Transformation Sequence and familiar, and it would become a passable Magical Girl Archetype, though the Warlock has its own issues. I just get the feeling that the person who wrote the thing hasn't watched many animes or at least Magical Girls animes.

Magical Child only have few superficial trappings of Magical Girls. If they lost the transformation sequence, they'd never be associated to that kind of character.
The Archetype is built around its familiar, perhaps because whoever wrote it heard that Magical Girls have cute little pets following them around, and uses a spell list made to enhance that particular feature.

It's an unfortunate choice, that has nothing to do with any Magical Girl I've ever heard about. Magical Girls don't fight with pets. They blast the heck out of things and in some cases, punch bad guys in the face. Even Card Captor Sakura, the closest to the Magical Child Archetype, is closer to a Wizard with one or two Eidolon(s) than to Magical Child.

Vudra, Holomog, Castrovel, Arcadia, the Mwangi Expanse.
I want to know more about the Shory, about the Cyclops and also the Dominion of the Black.

Garund is nice, but it lacks something esssential: Endemic player races with their own realms.
Mostly Garund has dark-skinned versions of the Avistani races, plus the Catfolk and the Ganzi who are both presented as rather rare, and not that big of an influence on the continent.

I love many of the iconics, but if I had to class my favorites by order of preference it would be:

1)Seelah (Most likable paladin of all times. Made a mistake, owned up to it, strove to beome better. Love.)
2)Amiri (I like strong women and they don't come much stronger and braver than her.)
3)Alhazra (Confident, determined, poised, gorgeous. What's not to like?)
4)Feiya (Lived through hell, kept a good soul. Wonderful.)
5)Ezren (I love how he decided it wasn't too late to follow his dreams and do good.)

The velvet blade mingles with the aristocracy and occasionally kills them when nobody is looking.

:D

Hmm, I was thinking myself that it would be interesting if they expanded on the wildsoul in a future book with a few extra natural courses...though I was thinking preying mantis or octopus myself. Wolf sounds like it could be neat, though.

I'd love an octopus wildsoul. Swimmining speed, water brathing and tentacles would be awesome, though I guess the Metamorph can already have all of this.

I'm done for the evening.

-Skeld

Thanks for your efforts!

Cruel Illusion wrote:

:o

Nooooo! Why dear heavens, why?

Because reasons.

-Skeld

This is obviously the result of an evil vancian conspiracy led by Iuconu the Laughing Magician.

In the folkore of some european countries Fairies have to spend some of their time in animal shape, such as deer, snakes, birds or fish. It's pretty common.

Cruel Illusion wrote:

Askanipsion wrote:

I have to say I am disappointed in the fey speaker druid - BAB as a sorcerer, wild shape availability now at higher level, a few illusion/enchantment spells, no Summon Nature spontaneous & lackluster fey abilities

Meh I was hoping they would get upgraded fey summoning or ability to get fey abilities when they wildshape.

a fey companion would have been awesome

0_0

They have 1/2 BAB? Why? That's dearly paid in exchange for a few mind-affecting spells and 2 skill points, especially with weakened Wild Shape and no more spontaneous summoning.

A few months ago, in another thread Paizo Inc., I wished we could have a fey themed druid/mesmerist hybrid focused on illusion and enchantment. Now we got something very close and I should be happy, but the way this has apparently been implemented sounds somewhat lacking.

I think you might prefer the fey-themed druid/mesmerist hybrid mesmerist archetype for that idea.

... Having to wait until the 30th to get the PDF is going to be a long, frustrating wait.

The metamorph is EXACTLY the kind of alchemist I wanted to play. The bombs and extracts didn't really interest me whereas the mutagen did.

Same for me. It's a very good surprise, though also a radical departure from the base class.

Wood, Nature, Lunar, and Dark Tapestry oracles cover most of the need to a spontaneous Druid imo. Wood and Nature have the spells, Nature and Lunar have the companion, and Wood and Dark Tapestry have the shapeshifting.

While I understand the desire for the niche, there are option to make that character type now.

Edit: And Hunter delivers it too, albeit with 6th level casting.

All of those options offer strictly inferior alternatives, though.

Being a prepared caster seems like a bigger gain for the divine classes, since they usually get their whole spell list for free. It's not like the arcane prepared casters who start with a limited selection of spells.

I don't play prepared casters.

I'll use the most impractical, convoluted ways to get a spontaneous caster caracter to obtain the same abilities as a prepared caster class, but I won't have anythin to do with Vancian magic if I can help it.

(In D&D 3.5, I once built a ranger/spirit shaman/abolisher rather than play a druid.)

Thanks Mark, but houseruling just isn't the same.
Oh well. There still the Vigilante to get excited about.

Protoman wrote:

I'm loving the fact that the feyspeaker is a spontaneous caster. Prepared casting always throw me into indecision paralysis so I've haven't played a prepared caster since a witch in 2011.

It's actually a prepared Charisma caster, which is even a bit more special because that makes it the only prepared 9-level Charisma caster I can think of at the moment (paladin is prepared but 4th)!

And to say I had so many hopes for this archetype...*Cries*

I like the whole Nature Bond ability that druids get, and I like wildshape too, but oh... a charisma based druid is like a dream come true for me. I tend to play charisma based classes but I've always wanted to play a druid. Well,,, this shall be interesting to see how this one is built.

Hmm

I don't care which ability is used for spellcasting but if I have to choose between memorized casting and spontaneous casting, I'll choose spontaneous almost everytime.

Zon-Kuthon and whatever changed him, kytons.

Echo Vining wrote:

Myrryr wrote:

You don't see elves or dwarves making flying cities or world spanning empires or creating "I AM A GOD NOW" spells.

The elves do have the aiudara network, which is interplanetary (at least).

Ah, yes... so impressive, a wizard managed to learn how to cast a combined interplanetary teleport and teleport circle spell. Clearly the elves, with their one kingdom on two different planets and no divine members are a match for the several dozen human civilizations on Golarion alone.

Sorry, 'bout the sarcasm, just a tad salty about that 'if you're not human, you're not important' part of the Golarion setting heh.

That always bothered me in Star Wars: Dozens of alien species and humans are still the center of the galaxy.

About Hermea my greatest interrogation is how hard it would be for a powerful disruptive element to infiltrate and corrupt/take over the island, given their habit of recruiting remarkable people.

I'd like more about Jalmeray, Holomog, the First World, Castrovel, the Shory, Nantambu, the Cyclops empire, Akiton, Catfolk cities, and the Reptoids.

Love the idea of a Mesmerist Druid. Kinda like a Sylph or one of those charm-y faerie types..

More like dryads, nymphs and other glaistigs, but that's the idea. :)

I also have that image of a bunch of monsters getting lost, confused, attacking each other, being put to sleep, blinded etc, before being finished off by an invisible or disguised wildshaped character.

-Kineticist/Spiritualist (Psychic caster with a telekinetic Phantom)

-Psychic/Oracle (Psychic casting+ mysteries, focus on Divination)

-Mesmerist/Druid (Fey/nature themed shapeshifting psychic caster focused on illusion and enchantements rather than summoning)

-Medium/Barbarian (Possessed by spirits during Rages)

A permanent bonus would be much more useful though, what with the penalty on social rolls wen transformed and the advantage for charisma-based spellcasting.
As is, the benefits are kind of circumstiancial.